Here’s How That Historic Oscars Blunder Happened

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LOS ANGELES — Director Barry Jenkins said he was “speechless” after his movie “Moonlight” was announced as the winner of best picture on Sunday night, following an unprecedented moment in Oscars history. And he wasn’t the only one.

“Is that the craziest Oscar moment of all time?” Emma Stone asked backstage. “We made history tonight.”

But what exactly happened that led to that now-infamous moment where “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as best picture at the Academy Awards?

Here’s how it all went down:

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty present

Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty — on hand to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Bonnie and Clyde” — presented the nominees for best picture. On stage, Beatty was given the task of opening the envelop that was supposed to contain the winner. (Later, Beatty would say it contained the name of a winner, but not the winner.)

On stage, Beatty looked at the card and said, “And the Academy Award…”

“I’m going to be very proud to hand this to my friends from ‘Moonlight,'” Horowitz interjected.

Beatty attempted to explain himself further.

“I want to tell you what happened. I opened the envelope and it said, ‘Emma Stone, La La Land.’ That’s why I took such a long look at Faye and at [the audience]. I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

Stone later told press she was confused because she had the card that said her name with her “the entire time.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the accountants from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) typically create two complete sets of winners’ envelopes. So it is possible Stone had her envelope and another was handed to Beatty.

“During the ceremony, two accountants stand on opposite sides of the stage throughout the ceremony, alternating between each other in the handing out of envelopes, depending on which side of the stage the presenters enter from,” according to THR.

Behind Beatty, the two casts traded spots.

“This is ‘Moonlight,’ the best picture,” Beatty said.

Matt Damon whistled from the crowd.

Taraji P. Henson was shown with her mouth wide open in the crowd.

“Very clearly, even in my dreams this could not be true,” Jenkins said. “But to hell with dreams. I’m done with it because this is true.”

Jenkins also offered a thanks to the “La La Land” team.

“I have to say, and it is true, it’s not fake: We’ve been on the road with these guys for so long. And that was so gracious and so generous of them,” he said. “My love to ‘La La Land.'”

“Moonlight” producer Adele Romanski summed up: “Thank you to the Academy. I don’t know what to say. I’m still not sure this is real.”

Romanski said she hoped the movie’s win was “inspiring to people, little black boys and brown girls, and other folks watching at home who feel marginalized.”

She hoped they took “some inspiration from seeing this beautiful group of artists… standing up here on this stage accepting this top honor.”

The aftermath

Emma Stone was the first directly involved in the viral moment to address the press backstage.

“I don’t even know what to say,” she said. “I think it’s an incredible outcome, but very — a very strange happening for Oscar history.”

She also expressed her love for “Moonlight.”

“God, I love ‘Moonlight’ so much. I was so excited for ‘Moonlight,” she said.

Jenkins, meanwhile, said he was given no official explanation for what happened.

“I will say, I saw two cards,” he said. “I wanted to see the card…and [Beatty] refused to show the card to anybody before he showed it to me. And so he did. He came up stairs and he walked over to me he showed the card….and I felt better about what happened.”

Jenkins thanked the “La La Land” team for being “so gracious” in the moment.

“I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that,” he said. “We spent a lot of time together in the last six months and I can’t imagine being in their position and having to do that. It’s wild.”

He added: “I wasn’t speechless because we won. I was speechless because it was so gracious for them to do that.”

CNN’s request for comment from the Academy and was not immediately returned.

PwC said in a statement: “We sincerely apologize to ‘Moonlight,’ ‘La La Land,’ Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for Best Picture.”

“The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected,” the company said. “We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.”

“We appreciate the grace with which the nominees, the Academy, ABC, and Jimmy Kimmel handled the situation,” the statement added.”